Percy hated that he seemed to always stumble into conversations. It felt like it happened every time he needed to ask a question, and he was expecting someone to yell at him for it. Percy hated to feel like he was intruding in someone's business, and on top of that, he always came in at the tail end of it, leaving him wondering exactly what they were talking about.

The same happened when he stepped into Lupa's office. Her door was wide open, so Percy took that as an invitation. Upon stepping inside, he saw Reyna sitting at Lupa's desk. Across from her sat Lupa, and the store manager was in the middle of talking.

"-stay professional. As long as that professionalism is maintained, I don't see a problem with it," Lupa finished. Reyna nodded as she heard the words. Lupa turned her head and looked at Percy. "What can I do for you, Percy?"

"I have the sales plans done for next week," Percy replied as he held up a folder. "I just wanted to drop it off to you before I leave. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"You did no such thing," Lupa promised. Reyna nodded her agreement and slowly stood from the chair. Her gaze moved to Percy, and she studied him. There was a small frown on her face, and it looked like her mind was tinkering.

Percy smiled and handed the folded off to Lupa, "Thank you, Percy."

"No problem. I hope everything is right."

"It is. I trained you after all," Reyna commented. She looked at Lupa. "And, thanks. I think I'm going to do it."

"You should," Lupa encouraged with a smile. Reyna returned one of her own, although it was small. "Now, you two get out of here so I can take a nap."

"Have fun tonight," Reyna said as she walked towards the door.

"I'll make sure Gwen knows not to interrupt you," Percy offered with a grin. "Have a good night, Lupa."

"You too," Lupa returned. She leaned back in her chair. Percy left the office with Reyna, and the two made their way towards their own offices. A comfortable silence settled between the two. When Percy made it to his office, he grabbed his things and waited outside Reyna's door.

Reyna made it to the door a moment later, carefully balancing her backpack on one shoulder. Percy spoke, "Are you excited?"

"Excited?" Reyna repeated, looking at Percy with a raised eyebrow. "No. Honestly, I'm scared."

"Everything will be fine," Percy promised. "The surgery will go great, and you'll be back here in no time to scare everyone into working."

"Are they not working when I'm not here to scare them?" Reyna inquired back as she seemed to raise that eyebrow higher. Percy grinned and shrugged. "Hmm. I'll remember that."

The two of them stopped outside of Thalia's office. Percy had given her a ride that day since it was raining so hard in the morning; he couldn't leave without her. Percy opened the door and stepped inside.

"-grate cheese on those abs."

Percy really wished that he would stop walking in on these conversations.

"Hi, Percy," Nico started, and he had the biggest grin splitting his lips. Nico was sitting in his chair and looking right at the door. Thalia sat in her chair but had her back to them. Somehow, Nico's grin seemed to widen. "And hello, Reyna."

While Percy could not see Thalia's face, he did feel her soul leave her body. Her body tensed.

"You want to grate cheese on someone's abs?" Reyna asked in an amused tone. "Whose abs?"

"My..." Thalia began as she slowly turned towards them. Her mouth was open to sound out what the rest of her response would be, but she kept dragging out her initial word. Percy could see that her mind was racing, struggling to think of a response. "...ssss...self."

Nico made a strangled noise like he was trying to hold back a laugh. He turned away as his shoulders shook. Percy covered his mouth with his coffee cup to hide how much he was about to start laughing. Reyna studied Thalia and maintained her emotionless gaze.

"I didn't realize you exercised that much," Reyna commented.

"Or at all," Nico chuckled under his breath.

"Yeah. I totally work out," Thalia claimed nervously. She swatted at Nico's arm. Then, Thalia turned towards Reyna, but her face was still beet red. "All the time. I love exercising."

"We should do that together sometime," Reyna suggested.

"You should!" Nico chimed in so loudly that he almost yelled. His shoulders quaked as he suppressed his laugh again and turned away. Percy couldn't hold it in any longer and wheezed. Thalia sat there frozen, and she looked absolutely mortified.

Reyna looked in between all of them. She had a neutral look on her face, like she was carefully maintaining a facade. Percy didn't think he would ever be able to read Reyna. As Nico and Percy finally calmed down, a silence settled between the four of them.

Thalia still held that mortified look on her face, and from that look, Percy knew what she would say when they were alone: I'm going to kill you.

Percy hid his face again and tried in vain to hide his grin. Reyna glanced at Nico and then Percy, "Hey Nico, can I talk to you alone?"

"Yeah," Nico replied almost neutrally as he stood. He walked out of the room with Reyna. As soon as the door was closed, Thalia shot out of her chair and went to slap Percy in the shoulder. He simply stepped back and laughed at the attempt. Thalia's next blow connected, and it was right below the belt.

"Ah, crap!" Percy chirped as he doubled over and placed both hands to his crotch. "What... was that for?"

"Cup check, asshole," Thalia hissed in his ear. "Nico is next. I'm going to kick both of your asses."

Percy groaned and slowly crawled toward Thalia's chair. Thalia used her foot to push it away, "What the hell? You're so rude."

"You were just laughing at me," Thalia growled. She raised her hand to hit him again and then lowered it. "Asshole! You and Nico both!"

Percy couldn't restrain his smile as he slowly leaned on the desk. He took a few moments to recover and was very thankful that Thalia hadn't gotten her full power behind the hit. Percy still kept his hands in front of his most important asset just in case Thalia decided to hit him again.

"What kind of cheese are you going to grate on her abs?" Percy asked. Thalia glared at him and didn't say a word. Percy had tensed and expected to get hit again. Instead, Thalia just stiffened and glared. Her face turned red, but he couldn't tell whether it was from embarrassment or rage.

"I'm going to grate your ass," Thalia finally seethed.

"That sounded a lot better in your head than it did out loud, didn't it?" Percy remarked. Thalia raised her hand. "I'm kidding."

"I'm going to crawl into a hole and die," Thalia muttered as she grabbed her things. "Let's just get out of here before I have to face Reyna again."

"You'll probably see her in my car," Percy teased.

"I'm going to kill you," Thalia promised. "In your sleep. Or I'll just run you over. I haven't decided yet."

"Let's get you home," Percy began as he gently clasped Thalia's shoulder. "Are we still going to hang out Saturday night?"

"I haven't decided yet," Thalia muttered. She sighed and let her shoulders droop. "Have you and Annabeth talked since you declared your undying love?"

"We have, actually. It's weird," Percy admitted as they made it onto the main floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nico and Reyna were standing by their cafe, and they seemed to be talking intently. Percy led Thalia towards the door. "I thought things would be all awkward between us, but everything is almost the same. We still text as much as we did before I left."

"Annabeth only talked to me about it a little bit. I think she's still more shaken up about seeing Luke. So much that she hasn't been able to process what you said," Thalia explained.

"Or, she just doesn't want to," Percy guessed with a small shrug. Thalia gently grabbed his shoulder. "I'm just worried that I messed with our relationship after letting all that out."

"You're not," Thalia promised. She suddenly grabbed Percy's arm, keeping him from stepping out in front of a car. "Just try not to get killed before she can realize how much she loves you."

"They were speeding," Percy complained.

"You didn't look both ways," Thalia countered.

"I was about to," Percy began, and he made a dramatic showing of looking to his left and then his right. He stepped off of the curb and walked towards his car. Thalia followed right behind him.

"Before or after you got hit by the car?"

"I'm surprised you didn't shove me in front of it," Percy retorted. Thalia rolled her eyes and gently shoved him. The two made it towards his car, and Percy unlocked it.

"Thalia!" Reyna called. Percy turned and watched Reyna jog towards them. Reyna stopped in front of them. "Hey, can we talk?"

"Yeah," Thalia began as she dropped her stuff in the backseat. She turned towards Reyna and still had the hint of a blush on her face. Reyna glanced at Percy and then looked back at Thalia. "What's up?"

"I was going to wait until after my surgery. Well, after I got better," Reyna began. She shifted slightly and looked away. Then, she let out a nervous breath and then looked directly into Thalia's eyes. "Do you want to go out with me?"

"What?" Thalia asked almost instantly. Her mouth didn't drop open in shock. Her eyes didn't widen. She just stood there without moving a centimeter, like her brain had just shut off on her.

Reyna gripped her backpack strap with one hand and seemed to be waiting for an answer. A nervous guise slipped through her facade. Thalia blinked a few times, and her brain seemed to be rebooting. Thalia finally spoke, "What?"

"Do you want to go out with me? Like, on a date," Reyna repeated as her face reddened slightly. She shifted again, clearly uncomfortable. Her gaze slithered over to Percy, and he gave her a comforting and gentle smile.

Thalia opened her mouth to respond, but all she could manage to do was make a few stuttered half words. Thalia blinked a few times as her mouth struggled to cooperate with her. After a few moments, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Go out with you?" Thalia repeated as she opened her eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Reyna answered after a few moments. "I was thinking we could have dinner sometime before my surgery. I know it's unfair to ask you-"

"I would love to go out with you," Thalia interrupted. A bright smile came to Reyna's face. Thalia returned it genuinely. "Do you have plans tonight?"

"I'm free after six," Reyna began. Thalia smiled widely. "Would you like to get dinner? My treat of course."

"I would love that," Thalia beamed. Reyna slowly grabbed her phone out of her pocket and handed it off to Thalia.

"If you want to save your number," Reyna began. Thalia grabbed the phone and typed her number in. It seemed like her hands were almost shaking in anticipation. Thalia gave Reyna her phone back and looked at Percy. She was the happiest that Percy had ever seen. "I'll see you tonight."

"It's a date," Thalia said giddily like a schoolgirl. Reyna smiled and nodded to Percy. She turned and walked towards her car. Thalia looked at Percy. "I can't believe that just happened."

"I can't believe Reyna had to ask you."

"Shut up," Thalia retorted. She opened the car door. "Come on. You have to help me pick out an outfit."